SENSES | The Sensory Shed

OUR SENSORY SYSTEMS

This section provides information on our sensory systems and the potential behaviours of someone experiencing difficulty with a sensory system. It also advises when it might be useful to refer to an Occupational Therapist.

Tactile

Tactile Sensory System

Our Tactile Sensory System is responsible for the sense of touch which allows us to feel sensations such as pressure, temperature, texture, shape and pain. The system is made up of specialised nerve endings called receptors that are located in the skin, muscles, tendons, and joints and sends information to the brain.

Our Tactile Sensory System plays a crucial role in our daily lives, allowing us to feel and interact with the world around us. It helps us to sense when something is hot or cold, rough or smooth, and to detect vibrations. It also plays an important role in our ability to sense pain and pleasure, which helps us to avoid harmful situations and seek out pleasurable ones.

Individuals who avoid touch may:

Have difficulty tolerating touch, textures, temperatures.
Get distressed during hair washing/brushing, nails cut, brushing teeth.
Show signs of distress with labels, seams, tight clothing, or socks.
Be agitated when people brush/ bump into them.
Do not like to be barefoot.

Individuals who seek touch may:

Touch people or items.
Look for certain textures.
Get distracted seeking out items when they should be attending to school/ home/ leisure activity.
Engage with smearing or self-stimulatory behaviour.

Auditory

Auditory Sensory System

Our Auditory Sensory System is responsible for the sense of hearing and allows us to perceive sound. It is made up of the ear, which is divided into three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The outer ear collects sound waves and directs them into the ear canal, where they reach the eardrum in the middle ear. The eardrum vibrates, which causes the three small bones in the middle ear to vibrate and transmit the sound waves to the inner ear. In the inner ear, the sound waves are converted into electrical signals that are sent to the brain, allowing us to hear and understand sound.

Our Auditory Sensory System plays a crucial role in our daily lives, allowing us to communicate with others, listen to music, and hear warning signals and alarms. It also plays an important role in our ability to locate the source of a sound and to distinguish between different sounds.

Individuals who under-respond to sound may:

Make additional noise.
Hum, sing, make an unusual noise.
Talk to themselves.
Select the toys/ objects that make the most noise.

Individuals who over-respond to sound may:

Avoid certain noises.
Run away from noise.
Place their hands over their ears.
Hum to drown out noise.

Gustatory

Gustatory Sensory System

Our Gustatory Sensory System is responsible for the sense of taste and allows us to perceive different flavours in the food we eat. It is made up of taste buds, which are located on the tongue, the roof of the mouth, and the pharynx. These taste buds contain specialised cells called taste receptors that respond to different chemical compounds found in food. These receptors send information to the brain, allowing us to taste sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savoury flavours.

Our Gustatory Sensory System plays a crucial role in our daily lives, allowing us to enjoy the taste of food, and to distinguish between different flavours. It also helps us to detect potentially harmful or spoiled food, and to identify the nutritional content of what we are eating.

Individuals who under-respond to taste may:

Crave strong tasting or harmful materials.

Individuals who over-respond to taste may:

Gag or vomit with certain tastes.
Only eat certain types/ textures/brands/temperatures/colours of food.

Visual

Visual Sensory System

Our Visual Sensory System is responsible for the sense of sight and allows us to perceive light and images. It is made up of the eyes, the optic nerves, and the visual centers of the brain. The eyes are the main organs of sight and are made up of several different parts, including the cornea, the iris, the pupil, the lens, and the retina. The cornea and the lens focus light onto the retina, where specialised cells called photoreceptors convert the light into electrical signals. These signals are then sent to the brain via the optic nerves, allowing us to see and interpret visual information.

Our Visual Sensory System plays a crucial role in our daily lives, allowing us to navigate the world around us, to read and write, and to appreciate art and beauty. It also plays an important role in our ability to recognise faces, to gauge distances and sizes, and to detect movement.

Individuals who under-respond to vision may:

Flick or spin objects.
Colour code items.
Line up toys.
Look at objects very close up.
Enjoy rotation movements.

Individuals who over-respond to vision may:

Avoid sunlight or bright lights.
Avoid bright busy environments such as the shopping centre.

Olfactory

Olfactory Sensory System

Our Olfactory Sensory System is responsible for the sense of smell and allows us to perceive different odours. It is made up of the nose, the olfactory epithelium, and the olfactory bulb in the brain. The nose is the main organ of smell and contains specialised cells called olfactory receptors, which are located in the olfactory epithelium. These receptors respond to different chemical compounds found in the air, and send information to the brain via the olfactory bulb, allowing us to perceive different odours.

Our Olfactory Sensory System plays a crucial role in our daily lives, allowing us to enjoy the smells of food, flowers, and other pleasant scents. It also plays an important role in our ability to detect potentially harmful or spoiled substances, and to recognize familiar people and places.

Individuals who under-respond to smell may:

Seek out very strong smells for comfort. These can be very pungent. This can be seen as very inappropriate or disturbing.

Individuals who over-respond to smell may:

Not tolerate certain smells.
Avoid certain people or places as they perceive them as being smelly.
Gag or vomit with certain smells.

Vestibular

Vestibular Sensory System

Our Vestibular Sensory System is responsible for the sense of balance and spatial orientation. It is made up of the vestibular apparatus located in the inner ear and the vestibular nuclei in the brainstem. The vestibular apparatus contains specialized cells called hair cells that respond to changes in head position and movement. These cells send information to the brain via the vestibular nuclei, allowing us to maintain balance and orient ourselves in space.

Our Vestibular Sensory System plays a crucial role in our daily lives, allowing us to maintain balance and stability while standing, walking, and engaging in other activities. It also plays an important role in our ability to coordinate eye and head movements, and to sense the position of our head and body in space.

Individuals who under-respond to movement may:

Look floppy or sedentary.
Seek movement by rocking, lying upside down on the sofa for example.
Always be on the move.
Seek trills and take risks.

Individuals who over-respond to movement may:

Struggle with movement if it is challenged.
Over react if movement becomes unpredictable.
Gag or vomit with certain movements.

Inteoception

Interoception Sensory System

Our Interoception Sensory System is responsible for the sense of the internal state of the body, such as hunger, thirst, temperature, and pain. It is made up of specialised receptors located throughout the body that monitor the internal state of the body, such as the stretch receptors in the stomach that detect hunger, or the thermoreceptors in the skin that detect temperature changes. These receptors send information to the brain, allowing us to perceive and respond to our internal physiological needs.

Our Interoception Sensory System plays a crucial role in our daily lives, allowing us to regulate our physiological needs, such as hunger and thirst, and to respond to internal changes in the body, such as pain or changes in temperature. It is also closely connected to the emotional and cognitive processes, and it allows us to have a sense of the emotional state of the body, such as feeling calm or anxious.

This Sensory System is very closely linked with our emotions. If this system is working correctly we can recognise and be in control of these sensations and act or change accordingly.

Examples where a referral to OT would be suitable:

Individual not being aware when having emotions.
Individual has difficulty with toilet training.
Individual over/ under sensitive to pain.
Individual cannot point out symptoms of illness.
Individual cannot recognise their own emotions or emotions in others.
Cannot recognise signs of distress.

Propriception

Proprioception Sensory
System

Our Proprioception Sensory System is responsible for the sense of body position and movement. It is made up of specialized receptors located in the muscles, tendons, and joints that monitor the position and movement of the body. These receptors send information to the brain, allowing us to perceive and control the position and movement of our body parts.

Our Proprioception Sensory System plays a crucial role in our daily lives, allowing us to move and coordinate our body parts with precision and control. It is important for activities such as walking, running, writing, and playing sports. It also helps us to maintain balance and stability, and to detect changes in body position and movement.

Individuals who under respond to where they are in space may:

Have heavy forceful movements.
Engage in rough and tumble play
Bite and chew on non-food items.
Apply excessive pressure when writing.
Bang doors/ drawers.
Like tight clothes.

Individuals who over respond to where they are in space may:

Struggle to grip objects.
Be shy around peers.
Avoid physical play.
Avoid slide/ swing/ see-saw/ trampoline.
Be anxious in busy areas.
Have difficulty judging risk for themselves.
Have difficulty riding a bike.